


Mirror, Mirror

by Lobb



Category: RWBY
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Dark, Gen, Mirror Mirror, Other, Weiss is Grimmhilde, Weiss-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:00:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27126205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lobb/pseuds/Lobb
Summary: Mirror Mirror, tell me- who is the loneliest of all?  Mirror Mirror, tell me who has caused this unstoppable fall?  Mirror Mirror, please tell me- am I the one who changed it all?  Mirror Mirror, who is truly the loveliest of them all?Weiss Schnee was once a girl burdened with a legacy- one ruined by the greed of a man.  And when she had finally had enough- she found it was already too late.  Looking into the mirror, a crown perched upon her head, she had truly become the loneliest of all.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	Mirror, Mirror

**Author's Note:**

> AN: We out here, doin’ that thing that we always do. You know who it is.

**Mirror, Mirror**

  
  


**Prologue**

**This Moment**

  
  
  
  


The cloth ran over the length of her blade, an automatic motion that comforted her as her weapon shined in the light of her room. In its reflection, she saw the blue of her own eyes. Reflective like a mirror, pristine and untainted. Tucking Myrtenaster into the loop at her belt, she tucked her bolero jacket around her and stood from her bed.

One last challenge until she would be free. One last time she’d dance on her father’s strings before they were cut. She would pass his test, and go to Beacon.

She would be free.

Klein greeted her as she stepped forth from her room, the aging man offering a kind smile to her. She smiled in return, and he bowed his head as she walked along to breakfast. Once again, she sat alone. Her only comfort the sweet taste of the finest of Atlas’ pastry chefs making something only for her.

As it always was. Never did her mother sit at the same table, always locked away with some new bottle that would be empty by the day’s end. Her brother at the beck and call of her father, who would never take time to even indulge in the family. His interests lay elsewhere.

Klein always smiled while she ate, but today it seemed sad. She knew why, even if she dare not bring it up. It might be the last time she sat down and simply had breakfast here- in Atlas. She would miss Klein.

Her smile felt a little more brittle as she stood and followed after him. They passed a clock, and she saw its hands declare themselves.

Two hours. Two more hours, and then she would succeed his test. She was already packed, there would be no reason to stay. No reason to say goodbye.

Her mother would be unresponsive, Whitley would disparage her. Winter was too busy with the affairs of the Military to be there.

Two hours, and then she would be bound for Vale. To Beacon Academy. Free to make her own mark on the world.

Like, but unlike, her sister. Winter fled the weight of the Schnee name. Weiss didn’t blame her, didn’t resent her- she was going to do the same. From Solitas to Sanus. A whole other country. 

“Miss Schnee,” Her attention turned onto the brunette in response, seeing his lips mournfully upturned. His eyes did not even change colors as she often saw him do- before he would say something that would make her smile. “There must be another way.”

She wished that there was. “If this is the only way my father will let me go to Beacon, I will have to beat him at his own game.” She responded, gently. Weiss watched as a rainbow of colors washed through her butler’s eyes before settling on a dreary, soft red.

“This is utter nonsense.” He grumbled, and she couldn’t help but smile. “No student should face the Armor Gigas.” And despite her head saying otherwise, she reached out to squeeze his shoulder.

“Insurmountable obstacles are what I’ll face my entire life. Him, most of all.”

  
  


+x+x+x+x+

  
  


There were so many mirrors in the manor. Some might view the Schnee family as vain, to have such things in what seemed like every hallway. She knew better- they made surveillance- security- easier. A camera could capture more thanks to the reflection of a mirror.

Even in this, there was pragmatism. Elegance was a facade. Within, as Weiss looked upon herself in yet another reflection, she wondered what she ought to see.

Who she would see, forever. If the girl there in the mirror was herself, or someone else. Klein had been dismissed- more aptly, called away. Of course, her father would never let anyone else see the things that had been passed down the Schnee bloodline. Even if he himself had no right to them, as the head of the family, it was his pleasure to ‘defend’ the family’s honor.

Quietly, ice-blue eyes turned away to look upon the empty stand where her Grandfather’s armor and sword was on display. Before a great painting depicting him. Nicholas Schnee- boots larger could never be filled. And, within a generation, everything about his name was besmirched.

There was an undeniable ache in her chest. “What would you do?” She asked, knowing no answer would come forth- but wishing it would all the same. “You’d rise above this, wouldn’t you? Until you knew you couldn’t anymore…”

Nothing answered her, but all the same, Weiss knew within that she had to stand firm. It was on her grandfather’s back the company was formed. If she could help it, it wouldn’t be by her father’s hands that it would sink into the mud.

So she stepped forth, into the Hall. Within, her father stood on the sidelines. Of course, he would be there in person to gloat should she fail.

He was always there, when they were at their weakest. Her mother, Winter, herself, Whitley-

Whitley wasn’t to blame for doing what he could to survive. She refused to bow, that was simply too much for her- too much for her pride. She refused.

_ She remembered the time she saw him slap her mother. _

What came next was a blur. A gallery of images in her mind, but so much instinct and training didn’t let any of it make sense. The Gigas, the blood pooling in her left eye.

Her face, marred. His fury- “How will you ever perform another concert when you have something ruining your face?”

_ She remembered when Winter had enough. When she’d walked out of the mansion and into the arms of Atlas Academy- of Ironwood. _

She slapped his hand from her chin, and as she turned to leave, he grasped her arm- pulling.

_ She remembered when he’d struck her for the first time. She remembered so many things, in that moment. _

__ “Stupid girl-”

_ She remembered her birthday. She remembered when the light in her mother’s eyes died. _

__ _ She remembered all of the things that ate her up inside. _

**SCHLAK-**

+x+x+x+x+x+

  
  


Her hands moved on autopilot, the kerchief pulled from her jacket and ran over the length of her blade. Sanguine bled into the pristine white cloth and smeared, before another pass freed that mirror sheen. In it, she saw the blue of her own eyes. Reflective, like a mirror, pure and untainted.

She was free. Myrtenaster was quietly fitted back into the loop at her waist, and through a haze of blood clouding one eye and the adrenaline bleeding away, she looked upon him.

Cold, as he was in life. Now, in death, he was the same. Face stuck in that expression- a sneer turned into surprise. Deathly pale, pure white suit smeared with red.

Within, Weiss Schnee felt it. Uncoiling, writhing, fitful. She started to laugh, she started to cry.

Now, there was no one to hold the strings.

She fixed her jacket, and cleaned her face of blood with another kerchief- and stepped from the manor’s hall.

Inside, Weiss Schnee remembered this moment. Deep down to her very soul.

She remembered the day, Jacques Schnee died.

  
  


_ Mirror, tell me something- _

_ Who is the loveliest of them all? _


End file.
